At home on the sea, despite disabilities

Photo/Great Kills Bail & TackleGreat Kills resident John Karl, a paraplegic angler who deploys in a kayak, recently landed a pair of five-pounders -- a codfish and a sea bass.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- GREAT KILLS -- Kayaking a half-mile from shore for a man-versus-nature battle with some denizens of the deep is a daunting proposition for most.

In addition to the rowing and the angling, there's the added danger of a sudden storm.

Great Kills resident John Karl is undaunted. Nearly every other day, he paddles out from the South Shore coastline to test his mettle. What makes his derring-do so impressive is that the 45-year-old does it all without the use of his legs.

"Being a paraplegic, going out on the kayak really allows me an opportunity to do more than I normally would," said Karl, who lost the use of his lower extremities at age 11 after a rooftop fall. "I've been fishing these waters ever since I was a kid. My father used to take me out all the time. I love it."

A geology tutor at the College of Staten Island in Willowbrook, ironically, he wasn't too keen being stuck on shore.

"I would fish with my friends on the beach, and the tide would come in," he said. "I'd have to move my wheels and try to back away instead of just enjoying the fishing."

About 14 years ago, Karl, who had already mastered a hand-controlled seven-speed bike, discovered that kayaking would allow him the fishing flexibility he was seeking.

"We go out all the time now," said Karl, who often convinces some of his friends, like Great Kills natives Joe Summer and Rob Wieser, to tag along. "I use a two-and-a-half pound anchor to steady myself. Then I fish for striped bass or I can go crabbing. I use it for everything."

They routinely launch from the Lemon Creek Park area in Prince's Bay and other tidal shores that provide easy access.

Karl also takes his kayak on the road with him. He enjoys skimming into the hairier swamplands of the Great Lakes, seeking out bullfrogs that he can catch with his bare hands.

Closer to home, he routinely competes in kayak fishing tournaments, finishing second six years ago in the Jamaica Bay Classic in Queens.

"But it's always a competition," he said. "You always make it a competition for yourself to get out and catch more fish or bigger fish."

Over the years, he's hauled in some prize catches, including a 48-inch barracuda in Key West, Fla., and a five-and-a-half foot terrapin.

Locally, his biggest grab was a giant cownose ray, which pulled him around for hours before he was able to land it.

Weather can be Karl's biggest adversary.

"I check out the Doppler satellite before I go out and watch for clouds while I'm out there," he said. "You try to head back in before you get stuck, but sometimes there's nothing you can do."

Karl recalled about four particularly harrowing experiences -- one that left him beached for two-and-a-half hours before his friends found him, and another where he was completely surrounded by lightning strikes.

Yet, he keeps returning to the kayak.

"When you get the striper bug like I've got, though, nothing's going to keep you from going out," he said with a laugh. "You know, I may be a paraplegic, but I've got a great life. I really do."